A Princess, A Dragon and A Prince
by ChocoChip101
Summary: It was a Halloween Party, and they were 6. He was a dragon. She was a princess. But here, the prince doesn't save the princess from the dragon. The dragon saves the princess from the prince! So with Cagalli the Princess and Athrun the Dragon, who's the Prince? A certain purple haired, narcissistic pansy of course! Good riddance to him! AthrunB-dayfic and Happy Almost Halloween! xD


**not part of All Just A Dream/For Orb unless you count this as an alternate universe prequel.**

**this is dedicated to two of my friends who just turned 15 and 16 yesterday, and of course ATHRUN! because he's just so awesome, and to one of my fave holidays, halloween! i'm too lazy to make another separate one for halloween, so this is a win-win-win. i get to say happy b-day to my two friends who probably doesn't know i have an account, and i get to celebrate athrun's birthday and halloween!**

**i got this idea while musing with the idea of the quote 'knight in shining armor turned out to be some loser in tin foil' and what my friend told me about chivalry being dead and how princesses should fall in love with dragons and not princes. so enjoy!**

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**-Oct 29th, 69 C.E.**

A woman wearing a black and purple silk and lace dress, wearing a pointed hat and holding a broomstick hugged the boy. "Happy birthday, Athrun!" she giggled.

A large man with a big caterpillar mustache wearing a waistcoat, holding a golden jewel encrustedpocket watch and fake bunny ears slapped the 6-year-old boy on the back, causing him to stumble a bit. "My, it's your birthday already?! You're makin' me feel older every year!"

A trio of men all wearing hats with a feather attached to it, carrying swords, wearing different colored trousers, black leather boots and poof-y sleeved shirts all dropped little candies into his hands. "Happy 6th birthday kid!" they all exclaimed.

Another man looking quite red in the face and sluggish, wearing silver clothes walked up to him. The man had his face covered in silvery makeup, a silver funnel hat, and held a silver axe in one hand. He knelt beside him and looked around cautiously before whispering, "Hehe, in 12 more years, I'll get you a better present than the dumb toys everyone's givin' you." Athrun didn't understand what the red-faced man was saying as the man grabbed a glass of an amber liquid from a server's tray and hiccupped away to where a group of women were.

Athrun Zala, if you haven't already guessed, turned 6 today.

And today, if you also haven't already guessed, was also the day of the annual Halloween Party his parents threw every year. Today was the one day out of the 365 days in the year that his father allowed his wife to dress up their son in costumes and the only day of the year he had to wear them.

The blue haired boy sighed. Athrun hated his birthdays.

It was almost always overshadowed by the grand Halloween Party his parents threw annually that also doubled as his birthday party. And every year, his mother Lenore Zala would dress up little Athrun into various costumes, like last year, when his mother had put him into what she called a Dracula costume that consisted of fake pointed teeth, fake blood that stained the white shirt he wore and a black cape. This year was a lot better than the last years he could remember because this year, all he was forced into was a dark red hoodie and pants that was suppose to make him into a scary green dragon with the hood up. Or at least, it made it look as if his face was in the wide opened mouth of an over-sized lizard with puny wings, stubby pointed ears and no tail, since another child had thankfully pulled it off him earlier.

The birthday boy could've easily stopped this yearly torture, but he loved his mother and couldn't deny her the happiness of dressing him up in costumes that made him look 'adorable', even if the clothes would itch, like that time when he was 3 when Lenore had thought he would make a wonderful addition to the Lost Boy's from Peter Pan, by dressing him up as some animal he couldn't remember. He even had to endure Yzak who made fun of him because of it, like last year when Lenore dressed him up as Dracula, and called him a leech. Needless to day, Athrun got his revenge. He bit the boy's hand while wearing the pointed teeth. His excuse had been _'But that's what vampires do right? They bite people.'_ But then he was forced to apologize to the silver-haired boy by giving him a bag of all his candy. Athrun gave Yzak all the spicy cinnamon ones Athrun knew Yzak couldn't stomach.

Lenore Zala knew that her son had to put up with a lot because of her little whims, so she promised she would make the costumes more functional to him and less horrid as well of course. Like this dragon-hoodie. It had yellow colored pocket in front that she knew Athrun used to hide small candy to eat when his father wasn't looking. What she didn't know was the Athrun had also added somethings to the sweater as well.

Now not only was it a good candy hiding place, Halloween costume and something to keep him warm during the cold autumn winds, if he were to push the tiny button he had put between the layers of the hoodie sleeve, a load roar would erupt out of the tiny speakerphones he had also hid between the layers of the sweater, just above the large pocket he hid his candy in. He couldn't wait to try it out.

"Athrun," his mother said, interrupting his thoughts. "This is Uzumi Nara Athha. He's Orb's Representative." his mother told him.

Athrun looked up and saw a tall man with brown hair just pass his shoulders and a goatee and mustache. The man smiled, but even so, Athrun couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated by the towering man. He was wearing a jacket from a grey jacket over a white shirt and vest with a bow tie, grey trousers and dress shoes, with white gloves, a black-grey top hat and a black wood cane. He looked like he fit exactly into the Victorian Era as a gentleman.

The man let out a low chuckle when Athrun shyly said hello. "He looks just like you, Lady Zala," the Representative said. "I've heard that he's very good with his hands, always making robots. And Athrun just turned 6, yes? Happy birthday."

Lenore smiled. "Thank you, Lord Uzumi-san. Oh! That's right! I heard you brought your daughter here with you today!" she exclaimed. Her eyes wandered the room looking for a little girl. "Where is she?"

Athrun startled when he heard the man sigh suddenly. "She's run off somewhere to worry me. I made her dress up and she decided to punish me by disappearing," he told her.

"Oh dear. Our home is very large. I hope she doesn't get lost!"

"Don't worry too much, Lady Zala. Her fiancé came with us as well, so she should be fine."

At that, Athrun's mother smiled faltered for a moment. "The Seirans, yes? I met the Seirans and their son a couple of minutes ago. They're very... Um..." She frowned as she tried to think of a word to describe the mother-son pair without insulting them. Athrun remembered the family.

The mother was as thin as a twig with purple hair and dressed like a Queen from the 16th century, the Renaissance, and the father, a man with a balding head, shorter than his wife and dressed like a King from that same time period. Athrun thought their son was the worse. He was short, with a long face and purple hair, just like his mother's, that he tied in a ponytail, and he wore clothing from the same period, dressed as a Prince. The trio kept on criticizing everything, saying how the decorations were below par, how everyone else's costumes were ugly, how the food was not even fit to feed their dog and so on. They said all of that in front of his mother and it took all of Athrun's will power not to go spill the cup of juice he was holding on their heads. They spoke as if they were above everyone else in a haughty and narcissistic way.

He thought then that the best present he could possibly get today was if he never met the three, especially their son, ever again.

"It's alright. I know how they are. In fact, that's part of the reason why I am here," he said, saving her from her search for the perfect word. "So where's your husband?"

The blue haired woman's eyes lit up and gave Orb's Lion a dazzling smile before turning to her son. "Athrun, sweetie, why don't you go play with your friends while I find your father? I think they're in the gardens."

Athrun nodded knowing full well that Lord Uzumi meant to talk business with his father. He used the same tone of voice Athrun's father used when he needed Athrun to go away so he and the 'adults' could talk in his office.

He bowed politely to the man and started towards the opened doors to the garden. He felt slightly happier at the idea of not having to greet any more guests with his mother, but then not so much at the thought of Yzak. Whenever he would see the silver-haired boy, Yzak would always challenge him to something, and then when Athrun would beat him, Yzak would get all angry and yell at him, and maybe even attack him. But he was happy because wherever Yzak was, Dearka would not be far behind, and with Dearka would always be Nicol.

He quickly ran down the steps, avoiding stepping on fake cobwebs, carved pumpkins of all sizes and littered candy wrappers, and ran into the maze of hedges that was especially made for the kids. It was high enough so anyone under 10 years old couldn't see over, but just low enough for the towering adults to see their kids at all times.

Athrun knew the entire maze by heart. He _lived_ here after all. He passed kids dressed as ghosts trying to eat as much of their candy as they can before they got back to their parents, a boy trying to kick his way through the hedges, and a group of kids huddled in a corner and one brandishing a flashlight as if he could scare off all the monsters in the world with it. As Athrun took a sharp turn, he stumbled, tripping over something covered in pink, glitter, and leaves and twigs.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" a voice yelled.

The green-eyed boy sat up on the grass and rubbed his chin painfully. He saw that the pink-leaf-thing he had tripped over was not a thing, but a girl. Weird. She didn't look much like any girl he's seen. They all had long hair, and was covered in make up, no matter their age. Except for Yzak's mom, who wore her hair short and lipstick, and Lacus who didn't where make up at all but had long hair. But this girl, whoever she was, had an irritated scowl, and looked angry. Her pink princess dress, which he knew must've been very expensive, was covered in dirt, grass stains and her short blond hair had leaves and twigs tangled in it. Her eyes were a pretty color though, Athrun thought absently. Like the color of the amber stone his father had on his shelf, but only much more alive and vibrant.

"What are you staring at?!" the girl snapped.

He blinked, only realizing then he had been staring at her. "Sorry, I-"

"Ca~ga~lli~!" a sickingly familiar voice sang, sending shivers down his spine, and apparently, the girl's as well from the look of terror and disgust on her face.

"Gah! He found me!" she exclaimed, panic taking over her body. She looked around, looking for some place to hide, and Athrun saw the owner of the voice, or at least his purple hair from one hedge over. Athrun immediately knew that if the purple haired idiot were to keep on walking, he'd find Athrun and start _talking_ to him again and he felt panic swell up in him as well.

"Cagalli! There you are! What on earth are you doing here?! This place is absolutely hideous an-" Yuna's voice trialed off when he saw Athrun sitting on the ground beside her. "Hey! What are you doing with my Cagalli?!"

"I-"

Yuna didn't let him get a word in as he pulled Cagalli up from the grass possessively. "Cagalli's mine! See? I'm a prince," he said, gesturing to his princely Renaissance costume. Athrun raised an eyebrow. "And Cagalli is a princess so... Cagalli! What happened to your dress?!"

The blond glared at him. "None of your stinkin' business!" she exclaimed.

"Well, never mind. I am the Handsome Prince, and Cagalli is the Beauti- Well, just a Princess, so we're together!" he declared, tightening his hold on her wrist, causing her wince and try to pry his hand free.

"Okay, but I-" Athrun tried explaining again.

"And _you're_ the Dumb, Evil Red Dragon," he continued as if Athrun didn't say a word. He looked pointedly to the dragon-hoodie thing Athrun was wearing. "So stay away from _my_ Cagalli."

Yuna continued with his speech about how he's done his job as the prince; rescuing the princess, aka Cagalli, from the evil clutches of the evil dragon, aka Athrun, and even went so far as to insult his costume. "And another thing! I am Yuna Roma Seiran! She is _my_ fiancée so stay away from her! She's going to marry me one day!" Yuna said as if it was an honor for Cagalli to marry him.

Athrun just sat there as the purple haired boy continued, going on and on, until he noticed Cagalli standing behind him, mouthing the words _help me_ to him as she started to slowly to lower her body until she was on her hands and knees right behind Yuna's legs. Athrun grinned felt the edges of his right sleeve for the tiny button, and when he finally found the little lump, her squeezed it between his fingers and then...

_ROARRR!_

"_AHHH!"_ Yuna screamed. He took a step back, but not knowing Cagalli was on her knees behind him, he fell over her and into the hedges behind him.

He grabbed the girl's hand and started running, letting his instincts take over. "Follow me!" he exclaimed, pulling her along.

The girl let out a cry of surprise as he started running faster and had to pick up the skirts of her dress to keep from stepping on them. "Slow down! You're legs are longer! I can't go this fast!"

"But he'll catch us!" he stammered nervously, but slowed anyways. Even from where they were now, he could still hear the purple haired boy yelling out curses and crying indignantly.

Finally he stopped at the gazebo at the center of the maze. No one was there because the maze was made to it would get harder as you got closer to the gazebo. Hours of running around in the maze got Athrun acquainted with everything enough that he could navigate without even thinking about it. Cagalli, the weird girl was panting hard and fell tiredly on the bench inside the gazebo. He stared at her, breathing hard as well. His eyes spied a rip in her dress and suddenly felt guilty.

"Sorry," he said quietly.

She stared at him. "For what?"

"For ripping your dress. I-"

"Who cares about the dumb dress!" she exploded. She grinned. "I should be thanking you! You saved me from Yuna! So who are you? You know Yuna too right? 'Cause only someone who knows him would look as scared as you were when he started talking."

Athrun felt his face heat up. "I was not scared!"

"Were too!"

"Was not! I just don't want to hear him insult my home any more than he already did!"

Cagalli blinked in surprise. "You're a Zala?"

"No, I'm a Seiran," he muttered sarcastically. Cagalli rolled her eyes. "I'm Athrun Zala. Nice to meet you." Athrun stuck his hand out and waited for her to take it.

She eyed his hand suspiciously before taking it in her's. "My name's Cagalli. Cagalli Yula Athha."

Athrun's eyes widened in recognition, remembering the man who was talking with his mother just moments before. "You're father's Orb's Representative!" he said in awe. Then he remembered what Lord Uzumi said about his daughter worrying him. "So it's true you're trying to punish your father for putting you in this dress?"

Cagalli's eyes narrowed and she scowled as she picked at the hole in her dress, stretching and ripping it and making it bigger. "Yeah, he said if I didn't put it on for your dumb party, I won't be allowed to eat spicy kebabs for a month." she told him begrudgingly. Then she glared at him accusingly. "And you don't have any spicy food here!"

Athrun suddenly felt the need to appease her angry towards him and frantically searched his candy-hideaway, looking for a bag of candy. "Sorry, sorry. Here, how 'bout some candy?" he said, hoping it would make her less angry. He quickly whipped out a bag of candy and she grabbed it from his hands so fast, he didn't notice that he'd given her the really, really spicy cinnamon candy he reserved for Yzak until she practically poured half of the little bag into her mouth and started biting on them. "No wait! Those ar-"

"These are really good!" she exclaimed in surprise. She liked her lips and popped a couple more of the red ball candy into her mouth. "Most of the candy are too sweet for me. Where did you get these? I can never find ones that are spicy enough!"

He stared at her with a grin as she continued eating the red candy. "Every year someone gives me a bag of those. I usually give them to my friend. He can't eat spicy stuff so it's funny."

She grinned at him approvingly, before pouring the rest of the bag into her hand and then scarfing them down. Athrun couldn't help but think how unladylike it was for her to eat like that, but it was a nice change from all the manners and etiquette he grew up with.

"He's right you know," Cagalli finally said after swallowing the rest of the candy and stuffing the bag, which only had one left, into her pocket.

Athrun blinked. "Who's right about what?"

"Yuna. In fairy tales, the princess is kidnapped by the dragon and the prince goes to save her and they lived happily ever after." she told him as she went back to pulling the leaves and twigs out of her hair and dress.

"You don't look like much of a princess," Athrun told her bluntly. He realized with a grin that he would never say something as straightforward as that around other girls, but with Cagalli, it felt right.

Cagalli laughed, and Athrun realized he wanted to hear her laugh again. "I know, but I am a princess you know. My father's Orb's Representative, so one day when I grow up, _I_ will be Orb's Representative. Then I'll protect my home from all the evil people who wants to hurt us!" she told him enthusiastically. Then she paused and smirked at him.

"What?"

"Nothing. I just thought you're too nice to be an evil dragon," she said.

"But I _am_ a dragon! See my costume?" he said, gesturing to his dirtied clothing with a grin. She giggled, and Athrun smiled.

"I know, but you can't be a dragon! You're too nice!"

"How do you know? This is the first time you came here and met me!"

She stopped abruptly as she realized he was right. "You're eyes, she finally said. You have kind eyes. That's how I knew you're nice."

He frowned. The only person who's ever said he had kind eyes was his mother, and she and Cagalli were also the only two people to ever make it sound like kindness was a good thing. "Okay, so if I'm too nice to be a dragon, what am I?"

The blond-haired princess frowned as she considered this, and Athrun stared at her in amusement as she really did try to think of a more suitable role for him. Then Cagalli's eyes lit up as the appropriate role finally came to mind, and she smiled at Athrun. He blinked. _Okay,_ he admitted to himself. _Maybe she does look like a girl sometimes._

"I know what's the perfect role for you!"

Athrun smiled back at her. "And what's that?"

"A knight!" she grinned proudly.

He raised an eyebrow. "A knight? Why? Isn't that the same as a prince?"

She shook her head stubbornly and glared at him. "No! A prince is like Yuna! He'll only want me 'cause I'm a princess and he'll send his soldiers to protect the princess! But it's a knight's job to protect the princess!"

"But how do you know that I'll protect you?" Athrun asked her skeptically. "This is-"

"I know! The first time I've been here, but-" she said, leaning in as if she was going to whisper a prized and heavily guarded secret. "You're eyes are kind, and my father says that people with kind eyes protects people."

"But-"

She cut him off with a wave of her hand. She stood up, and pointed a finger at him. "No! No but's! You're not the Evil Red Dragon anymore! I dub thee the Kind Red Knight," she declared.

He grinned at her. "Thank you, Princess," he said, playing along by getting up and giving her a dramatic bow.

"Don't call me princess!"

"Whatever you say Princess."

The two continued with their game of roles for a while longer, until finally, the two were wrenched out of their world by the loud bell from the Zala Mansion that signaled the end of the party. From the gazebo, they were high enough to see the tops of childrens' heads as they all tried to get out of the maze to return to the Mansion.

"So, it's time to go then?" Cagalli asked disappointedly.

Athrun nodded before jumping off the steps, holding out a hand and grinning at her. "But don't worry, I'm sure we'll see each other next year if you decide to come."

Cagalli ignored his outstretched hand and jumped off by herself instead. She would've slipped and fell because of the shoes Myrna had told her were called flats, but Athrun managed to catch her in time. "I'll come if you give me more of that spicy candy next time."

"Deal! Now c'mon! If we get back to the house fast enough, I might be able to get you some before you leave!"

At that, Cagalli let herself be pulled back by the hand by him, all the way back to the house.

* * *

From across the room, the three adults watched their kids interact with each other.

Cagalli was clapping her hands happily as one of Athrun's robotic toys made random, nonsensical comments in response to Cagalli's questions to it. She picked up another one of his robots, a bird, and threw it into the air and watched in awe as it flew in a wide circle above their heads. Athrun frantically tried to stuff as much as the candy in a bag for her as he could, as per her orders as princess, but ended up dropping a handful of it, and when Cagalli took a step, she slipped on them, and fell into Athrun, making him drop the bag. The hundreds of little cinnamon candy rolled across the floor in all directions as the two started arguing over whose fault it was he spilled the candy.

"Patrick, so what do you say?" Lord Uzumi asked the man beside him. "They already seem to like each other.

Patrick Zala said nothing for a moment as he watched his son laugh when Cagalli tried to get up, but ended up falling on top of him again. "Alright. I agree," he said with a sigh. "Send me the papers and I will sign them."

Lord Uzumi smiled. "Now was that so hard Patrick?"

Athrun's father scowled and turned away muttering something.

Lenore clapped her hands together happily. "I'm getting a daughter!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Not for another 12 years, my dear," Patrick told her. Then he paused. "Wait, wasn't your daughter engaged to the son of the Seirans?"

The Lion of Orb's eyes darkened. "That's exactly why I'm breaking off that engagement. I would rather my daughter marry your son than that child," he told them. "The Seirans will burn Orb down fast than you can say 'abandon ship' if I let Cagalli marry that boy."

Patrick glared at the man. "You would rather your daughter marry my son than that child, huh. Are you saying my son is your second choice, Uzumi?"

The Representative said nothing, but the glare the man sent back was all Patrick needed.

"Now, now, Patrick. Lord Uzumi-san is leaving now," Lenore said, calmly intervening. "Lord Uzumi-san and Cagalli's flight will be leaving in half an hour and they should leave no if they don't want to miss it."

Patrick bit his tongue to keep from saying something that would insult Orb's leader, so instead called the two children forward, who had already by that time gotten one of the servants to get the spill of candy cleaned up and stuff new ones into a bag for Cagalli.

Lenore smiled as the girl confidently walked towards them with her son. "Hello, you must be Cagalli, right? Wonderful to meet you. I'm Athrun's mother, and this is his father," she told her.

Cagalli nodded and gave the couple a big smile and thanked them for having her and that she had a really good time.

Lenore chuckled at the blond's enthusiasm to return, and handed Cagalli's father his coat. "Here you go, Lord Uzumi-san."

He took his coat with a nod. "Thank you. Good bye, Patrick, Lady Zala. And happy birthday Athrun." Then he promptly turned around and started towards the door. But then just as he was about to exit the mansion, he realized that his daughter was not following behind him like she usually was, but instead, was still standing in front of Athrun. He strained to hear what she was saying.

"You didn't tell me it was your birthday," she said accusingly.

Athrun squirmed under her stare. "Well, you didn't ask."

"You still could've told me!" she exclaimed. Then she glared at her father. "And why didn't you tell me?! Then I could've at least got him a present!"

Her father sighed, but said nothing. He was almost sure he had told her on the way here, but she was just too angry at him to have remembered.

Patrick Zala noticed the small, almost sly smile on his wife's lips and suddenly knew something interesting was going to happen. He watched as she bent down and whispered something into Cagalli's ear, who stared back at her, not following what the older woman was trying to get her to do. Lenore whispered something else, and Cagalli's eyes lit up in understanding.

Athrun had no idea what was really going on. First Cagalli was yelling at him, and then her father for not telling her it was his birthday. What was the big deal? He'd get another one the next year and the year after that and the years after and so on. But then, even before he could register what was happening in his head, Cagalli leaned up close to him, and he felt her kiss his cheek.

Athrun turned bright red. "Wha-"

"Happy birthday you idiot!" she yelled as she ran out of the room past her father.

And despite Patrick's ever so cold demeanor, he couldn't help but laugh along with Lord Uzumi and his wife as Athrun tried to turn away to hide his embarrassment.

But a small part of Athrun that was mature enough to understand what just happened wished that Cagalli would come visit again.

Because he can't be a knight without his princess.

* * *

**btw, sorry if athrun and cagalli sound older than 6. my excuse: cagalli grew up in a house full of politicians and athrun grew up with his father and is a coordinator. that's gotta mean sumthing**

**so did you enjoy that? yes? no? REVIEW! ****okay, now quick question. can anyone tell me who the party guests were dressed up to be?**

**-Sammiches**


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